Fun with New Adult News

by Amy Lamont on May 17, 2013

Holding hands coupleI’ve belonged to an online romance writers group for several years now, and just this week I saw a question pop on in the forums—what is New Adult romance? And judging by the comments and some other questions that came up on the board, she wasn’t the only one confused by the category.

Really? As addicted as I am to reading (and writing!) New Adult romance novels, it came as a shock to find so many people still haven’t discovered them. Think of all the great reads they’re missing out on: Real by Katy Evans, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, anything by Colleen Hoover or Abbi Glines. I could go on and on, but you get the picture: there are still so many people who are New Adult deprived.

But I think that’s about to change. Here’s why:

#NALitChat: This is the Twitter hashtag a bunch of New Adult writers (romance and otherwise) use to connect and chat about everything related to the New Adult category every Thursday night. I’ve seen it show up on the trending list many times on Thursday nights which tells me the Twitterverse is interested in what’s going on in the New Adult world.

Publishers Marketplace Added New Adult Category: For a while there, it seemed like lots of people hoped New Adult would quietly go away. It seems the publishing industry is finally admitting that’s not going to happen. Proof? Publishers Marketplace added New Adult as one of the categories in the Deal listings.

Amazon On Board: And finally, just this week, Amazon added a New Adult category. This means you can find the New Adult books you most want to read by simply clicking on the category. This is great news for NA authors!

Still not sure what New Adult is? Author Christina Lee gives one of the best explanations of what the category is all about when she answers the question, “What in the Heck is New Adult?”

And if you’re ready to start reading, all you have to do is check out the New Adult section on Amazon. Happy Reading!

Have you discovered New Adult romance or any other subgenre of New Adult fiction yet? Are you a fan? Have any favorites? And if you haven’t read any New Adult yet, what are you waiting for?

 

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Write Coach: What Are You Afraid Of?

by Amy Lamont on May 15, 2013

I’m over at Lynnette Labelle’s blog this week talking about writing through the fears that crop up for many writers.

Awhile back, I realized lots of my bad writing habits—procrastination, skipping between projects without finishing any, missing opportunities to connect with editors or agents—boil down to one thing. Fear.

I know I’m not alone, so I thought I’d share some helpful articles on writing and fear today:

Writing Through the Fear: This is my post about acknowledging the fears that crop up when we try to make a go of a writing career and some tips to get the words on the page anyway.

7 Deadly Fears of Writing: An oldie, but one worth revisiting over at Men With Pens. I know I’ve battled with more than one of the fears on this list, and I take comfort in knowing I’m not the only one struggling with these.

How Fear Helps You to Write Better: This is one of my favorite posts on our writing fears. It talks about the benefits of fear. Who knew there were reasons to be grateful for fear?

On Writing and the Fear of Judgment: I struggled for a long time with a fear of judgment, in writing and several other places in my life. It took me a long time to work through this one, and I agree wholeheartedly with Joanna’s advice here, especially the reminder that we are not our books!


Do you have any fears about writing? Do you use procrastination or other behaviors to push back the fear? Any tricks for getting the words on the page rather than giving into the fear? We’d love to hear them!

 

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Category Romance: It’s All Greek to Me

by Amy Lamont on May 13, 2013

sold to the enemyLast week we were talking about the first romance novels we ever read. This weekend I was looking for something good to read, and I downloaded a book from Harlequin Presents, Sold to the Enemy by Sarah Morgan. It reminded me of another one of my firsts—the first Harlequin romance I ever read.

I was in seventh or eighth grade the first time I was introduced to Harlequin romance novels. I’d seen them before that. They had them lined up near the checkout of our grocery store and one of my best friend’s mothers used to keep huge shopping bags full of them tucked in a kitchen cabinet.

But the first time I ever read a Harlequin romance was when one of my friends showed me the book she’d kept hidden behind the other books on the shelf in her bedroom. (Her parents were much stricter than mine when it came to reading material. At this point, my mom had been allowing me to check piles of bodice rippers out of the library on a regular basis.)

The book was The Honey is Bitter by Violet Winspear. To this day I remember the hero, Paul Stephanos. Okay, there’s a little cheating involved as I picked up a copy of it a few years ago. But I’ve never been able to forget the Greek tycoon who stole a young English woman away from her family.

Reading The Honey is Bitter was the beginning of a new addiction that I still indulge in today—Greek tycoon heroes. I can’t resist the lure of a cover featuring an olive skinned, alpha male with a beautiful woman tilted over his arm.

While my reading tastes have changed over the years and the heroes in my own stories tend to be a little more down-to-earth, every once in a while when I want a pure pleasure read to escape into, I reach for a story featuring a Greek billionaire and his virgin conquest. I just can’t resist.

How about you? Do you have any go-to guilty pleasure reads? What kind of hero do you find hard to resist?

The Honey is Bitter

 

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Bad Boys: The Reformed Rakes of Contemporary Romance

May 10, 2013

The other day on Twitter, I asked people to share the first romance novels they ever read. Mine is one I’ve mentioned before–Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. I was in the sixth grade when I got my hands on this book, and oh did my little preteen heart go pitter-patter when I read about [...]

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4 Words a Writer Should Never Use

May 8, 2013

We’ve all heard about the overuse of adverbs and words that indicate passive writing. But that’s not what I’m talking about when I mention words writers should never use. I’m referring not to the words we put on the page, but rather the words we use when we talk to ourselves. If you’ve read my [...]

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Blues Busters: Veronica Mars, Maid for Love, and More

May 6, 2013

Got the Monday morning blues? There are a few things keeping me smiling today, maybe they’ll perk you up, too: Veronica Mars Movie  It’s in the works! In case you missed it, the VM Kickstarter campaign was super successful and the movie is a go. If that’s not enough to get you smiling, maybe this’ll [...]

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Fun with Zombies

May 3, 2013

Anyone else going through zombie withdrawals since the Walking Dead season finale? I was very excited when I was traveling last weekend and found Warm Bodies on the list of on-demand movies at the hotel. I had wanted to see it in theaters, but since it’s not animated or otherwise kid appropriate and my husband [...]

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Write Coach: Tap Your Intuition to Create Your Writing Career

May 1, 2013

Over the last few years, the favorite catch phrase to describe what’s happening in publishing has been “wild west.” I’ve read too many articles and blog posts to count talking about the wild west of publishing. But what does it mean? The Awesomeness Most of it is good stuff. Authors have more opportunities to publish [...]

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Must Read Monday: Twisted Perfection

April 29, 2013

If you’ve read Fallen Too Far and Never Too Far by Abbi Glines, you’ve already been introduced to Woods Kerrington. Handsome, wealthy, protective Woods Kerrington. Sigh. Anyone else as excited as I was to see Woods get his own book? The good news is even if you haven’t had a chance to read the Fallen [...]

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Fun With Law of Attraction

April 26, 2013

The Law of Attraction (LOA) plays a big part in both my writing and my coaching practice. I truly believe that whatever we focus on, we get more of—for better or for worse.   My First Experience with LOA The first time I heard of Law of Attraction was when I saw a video called [...]

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